Whilst I went for 'casual with friends', for me it wouldn't really be a viable choice, as if anything I'm one of the weaker players in my (13/14 normal) raid team.

That said, there are several team members who probably are good enough to be applying for our server first guild and getting accepted, and if they were to do so I'd wish them well, and hope to still do flex and challenge modes and so on with them (although with my RL hat on I wouldn't exactly be looking forward to the recruitment that would follow). So yeah, don't assume that moving on to a more progressed guild means never playing with your old guildmates again.

This choice is ultimately with you. I have friends outside of my raid team as well, so even if I didn't get along with them, I'd still have a social aspect in game.

If progression is that important to you, then it's a no brainer. I play to progress, and any friends I make along the way are just a side-effect of this. I'm entirely thankful for my friends I've made in game, and I'm always going to be a polite and easy going person. But whether or not I like my guildmates is not a question as long as we can work well as a team.

I'd rather struggle through the easiest content with friends, and have a ton of laughs, than clear the hardest content with folks I don't care about.

Benevolence is a luxury for the strong - Wrathion
Plox. I got your plox right fucking here. - Animalhouse
I still prefer seeing Thrall rather than blood in my urine, that doesnt make him a good character. - Verdugo

Neither really I don't raid with friends because most all are long gone and I tend to be very critical of people when I raid. I also don't do serious progression anymore either but when I do raid it is with strangers. So, I am casual with strangers?

Same, I don't care how casual, not walking out of the godamn fire is not ok.

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Originally Posted by Danshot

I've met some awesome people through wow, the shit with friends would fall flat or flake out

Also this, I've made great friends through WoW. Just like in real life I stopped having contact due drama. But that's life.

I had more fun doing 10m in a guild wiping on Hodir than I did doing 25m with people in ToC; and I liked ToC; I however, didn't like the people or their attitudes compared to the the guild who was composed mostly of people who were friends in real life.

Real life friends are less likely to be shitty to each other on a bad night ... a guild of convenience (progression) has a chance to be shitty to each other even on good nights.

The rare situation comes along once in a while of a great guild both in progression and personality ... but this is increasingly rare the longer the game goes from what I've seen.

You have to stop and think what is actually important ... having fun, or saying you killed x on hard mode setting by a certain time frame. Which one brings better, longer lasting memories?

I have good memories of early clears; but I have fonder and many more memories or basic raid nights with the friendly guild than any amount of quality progression nights could give. For me, I had to realize that the stress of carrying people as a healer through hard modes was not as fun as fooling around with friends, even if that meant wiping on something that was ridiculously easy to me many times a night. The friendly, no rage atmosphere was fun, and being able to call it and switch bosses or raids instead of beating against a wall for hours on end was also a better experience in the long run.

Sounds like you already made your decision; no need to seek confirmation; you did what was right for you. Don't let those focused on progression convince you otherwise. They will of course tell you that you made a mistake because they have fun for different reasons. Some have already encouraged you to basically ditch your friends to make new ones in the more progressed guild. To me, the ability to ditch and hop around is one of the biggest problems in the social aspect of the game; and also what makes those progressive guilds on average more toxic. People are there for selfish reasons (personal progression, sometimes loot). In a guild of friends that progress slower, they are there for each other and to have fun ... the atmosphere is more conducive towards enjoyment because of it.

But the answer is different for everyone. Some people need to progress to have fun. Some people need to top meters. Some people want the social foundation more than speed kills and server leading progression.

I would always choose to be with friends because the point of the game is to have fun, not achieve fake rankings. With that being said, however, I've spent a great deal of time in my life setting things up so that I can progress at a high level with friends and get the best of both worlds.

Well, you did a choice. That alone cant be changed and its only up to you if that was a right call.

I miss personally option in pool "Semi-Hardcore guild with friends" because thats the most guilds Im familiar with on my server, all have scheduled raiding and fair progress (mostly cleared all norm at this time), but they have layed back progress attitude and mostly good social atmosphere.

The second thing is that well-progressed guild can be very friendly and social. same as the casual guild can be only bunch of people who randomly build 10mans on the spot without any social bonding at all. Guild with no social bonding can fall apart pretty easily on first sign of trouble in progress no matter how good they are (even Method wipe).

Originally Posted by Bonsaii

As a guild master, I try and create a friendly atmosphere (very difficult in 25 man). We have fun, but still kill content. Most of the people who stick around become good friends.

depends how you define "Friendly". I find it not difficult in my guild, I have to moderate some cases and arguments between guild members but its not fatal. We have decent amount of people joining and seldomly someone leaves (we kick him for inactivity most of time).

Basically I just got accepted for trial in a 12/14H guild, but I decided to stay with my friends in my current 2/14H guild.

Was this the wrong choice?

If you had a choice between high progress or super casual with great friends, what would you pick?

I chose the opposite in almost the exact same situation. I am currently in my trial period with a guild who are 11/14hc after leaving some of the nicest people I've ever played with on 2/14H.
I've got my drive and competitive edge back - which was what I wanted, but it can be quiet and lonely in-game most of the time. No one wants to associate with the recruits in case they don't make it.
Though I feel it's too early to tell if I've made the right decision yet. Hoping my new guildies will warm to me after I've been accepted as one of them.

Casual with good friends, hands down. This is a social game, and for me, it's about socializing while I progress. Having fun is primary- it's easier to do that with people I like. If I'm only trying to progress, it feels like a job. I'm not exactly a "super casual," with this mindset, either. My best friends and I are 4/14H, and we do our best, but a lot of us could be progressing faster and harder- we just prefer to raid fewer hours a week with people we enjoy more.

There's no wrong choice... everyone has different goals and different aspirations ingame...

Besides, the people you don't know right now, eventually become people you do know... maybe even good friends you enjoy playing with.. it's not like you'll be sacrificing your friends in-order to play in a harsh cold environment... there's just a "fitting-in phase", like there is anywhere else.

raiding with good friends (assuming not dying to the same boss over and over and over again which isn't casual anymore) is always more enjoyable than getting higher progression with people i don't really know which tends to make me feel tense.

Did the HC thing for World ranks, and whilst it was enjoyable, once you've been doing it for a while you raid for the people you raid with more than simply getting through the content as fast as you can. Years of the former just burns people out.